


Frankenstein: Legend of the Seven Seas

by nateheywood



Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: (yes this is to make out), Alternate Universe - Pirate, Fainting, Fluff, Fun, M/M, Minor Injuries, Multi, Pirates, References to Depression, Sea Monsters, adam is there because of course adam is there, and they get themselves into a bit of a mess because this is what being horny gets you, basically henry and victor sneak off the ship in the middle of the night, elizabeth is the only one with any sense, this is HEAVILY inspired by sinbad do not LOOK at me, victor has depression and i do believe it's canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21259157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nateheywood/pseuds/nateheywood
Summary: During a midnight rendezvous, Henry and Victor run into a monster they weren't prepared to run into. They're barefoot, for god's sake. Luckily, Elizabeth is there to handle it for them.





	Frankenstein: Legend of the Seven Seas

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, OperaGhost!! I really hope you enjoy - I tried to incorporate as many parts of your prompt as I could, and I maybe got a little carried away.... I'm a little tempted to write more. Just a forewarning: this is my first Frankenstein fic, and this is NOT beta'd. Enter at your own risk. 
> 
> Prompt: 'I am, a huge frankenstan, and I really just want everyone to be together and happy and like, let Victor, Adam, Elizabeth, and Henry just chill and be happy together! And also Justine and!!! I’m a sap, if you couldn’t tell. and!!! I really love Edgar Allan Poe, a lot. Also pirates and cowboys are always a good idea. (Also Victor/Elizabeth/Henry is that good content. They all have two hands).'

Henry stares at the ceiling of the cabin, completely bored out of his mind and completely over listening to Justine’s snoring. He’s also completely over how cold it is, even below deck. It’s nothing that a little body heat wouldn’t fix, but his hammock could barely hold just him, much less  _ two _ people, and the whole of the ship would be witness to the inevitable disaster that would come with fitting two full grown men onto a rotting hammock. No. Henry would have to suffer on his own for tonight. 

It’s hard not to be envious of Elizabeth in the captain’s cabin, in a real bed made for two - possibly even three. It’s incredibly selfish on her part. (He knows she’s earned it, but the rope knot digging into his shoulder blade isn’t encouraging any understanding on his part).

He turns on his side to face the wall, staring at the whorls in the wood paneling. He can almost make out shapes in them: a heart, two eyes, a fish.

God, he is  _ so  _ bored.

As if an answer to a prayer he hadn’t made (yet), something touches his shoulder, and Henry jumps nearly ten feet into the air.

“Who--?” he starts, whipping around, but he cuts himself off at the sight of Victor, who is staring at him with a rather alarmed expression. Henry relaxes, reclining back on his elbows from where he had sat straight up. “Victor. Thank goodness.”

“You’d think there was some monster hunting you down, the way you jumped,” Victor whispers, lips curling up into a small smile. Henry feels a flush working its way up his neck, but he can’t be bothered, because he hasn’t seen Victor smile (or Victor, really, for that matter - he tends to keep to himself and the cabin during his melancholy states) in a long time, and to see it now is cause for celebration.

“You might as well have  _ been  _ a monster, with the way you’re creeping around!”

“I can’t very well go stomping my way across the cabin, Henry, some people are actually asleep.”

“Yes, as you should be.” Henry pokes at Victor’s chest. “Is something wrong?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Victor halfheartedly jabs, but it’s clear his playful mood has gone. His smile fades, and Henry is sad to see it go. He’d do nearly anything to get it back. “I couldn’t sleep,” Victor sighs after a moment. “Too many thoughts.”

“Well,” Henry says after a pause. “ _ I _ wasn’t having nearly enough. One can’t possibly sleep when he’s bored.”

“Ah,” Victor says sagely. “Of course. Looks like a distraction is in order.”

“Obviously.” Henry swings himself out of his hammock and stands, motioning towards the stairs. “After you, sir.”

“Why, thank you,” Victor says, smile back again with full force, and he leads them up and out of the cabin and onto the deck. Henry trails behind and shuts the doors quietly, and he can’t help but grin like a loon when he sees the shine of Victor’s glasses in the moonlight. He’s only a little in love.

“I saw a patch of sand that looked absolutely perfect for stargazing,” he tells Victor, bounding over and motioning grandly somewhere vaguely to the left. 

“I don’t much fancy lying on the sand,” Victor says, but his tone is teasing, and his eyes gleam with a certain appreciativeness that makes affection bubble up in Henry’s chest. 

“You fell asleep in a  _ rowboat _ ,” Henry says, a little too boisterously, “I don’t want to hear anything about  _ sand. _ ” He’s getting louder with the excitement of spending some proper alone time with Victor - it’s been at least a month since he’s felt like he’s spent any truly significant time with his lover.

“Shh,” Victor says, pressing a finger to his lips. Henry kisses his finger over his lips, and Victor gasps in mock outrage, lightly shoving him away. “Calm down!” he says in a hushed tone, laughing. “You’re going to wake someone!”

“Better take this off-ship, then,” Henry says, and he starts towards the rope ladder, pulling Victor by the hand behind him. Victor offers up no resistance, with the exception of a few small complaints.

“We don’t have our boots on,” Victor whispers harshly, “and we haven’t gotten a blanket.”

“We don’t need boots,” Henry says, “and you can lie on me.”

“Not a very gentleman like suggestion, dear Henry.”

“I didn’t run away from London with the pirates to be a  _ gentleman,  _ dear Victor, and neither did you.” Henry immediately regrets his loose tongue - Victor and Adam had come from some dire circumstances that only they and Elizabeth know, and very much did not choose to run with the pirates for the thrill of it, but out of desperation. Henry holds his breath, ready for Victor to make some offended comment, but he only laughs. Henry nearly sags in relief. The night isn’t ruined.

They lapse into a comfortable silence, and they clamber down the ladder quietly. The sand is soft between Henry’s toes, and he grins at Victor’s displeased expression as his own feet touch the sand.

“Oh, come on,” Henry says, whispers forgotten. “Where’s your sense of  _ adventure _ ?”

“We’re going twenty feet that way,” Victor tells him, “I don’t  _ need _ a sense of adventure.”

“You’ve got no reason to be complaining, then,” Henry says primly, and he starts off towards the patch of sand he’d noticed upon anchoring. Victor is close behind, and once they reach what Henry is  _ convinced  _ is the softest patch of sand, he falls, making sure to pull Victor down along with him.

Victor yelps as he lands half on Henry and half on the sand, and Henry cackles at the glare he shoots at him. “Payback for scaring me earlier,” Henry says, and Victor looks at him for a moment before relaxing fully into the sand.

“I didn’t do that  _ intentionally _ ,” Victor says to the sky. “ _ This _ was just mean-spirited.”

“When have I  _ ever  _ been mean-spirited?” Henry asks in mock offense. Victor turns his head to face him, grinning.

“There’s a first for everything.”

Henry hums in acknowledgement, and then he leans in to kiss Victor, heart beating like it’s their very first kiss. It’s never not beat like this, and Henry never wants it to stop. He rather enjoys feeling like a lovestruck fool, thank you.

Victor sighs into the kiss, and they melt into each other, Henry carding his fingers through Victor’s dark hair and Victor cupping the back of Henry’s neck, pulling him closer, closer, closer. It tastes like coming home, and Henry is sorry when they break apart for air.

“I missed you,” he says, emotion suddenly welling up in his throat.

“I know,” Victor says, and something like guilt flashes across his face. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Henry says. “It’s not your fault. I only wish that--”

Victor cuts him off with another kiss, and Henry finds that he doesn’t mind as much as he probably should. He’s missed other things about Victor, too, and when the kiss ends he finds himself coming up to straddle Victor’s hips, leaning down to meet him again.

This, of course, is when the brush beside them decides to rustle rather ominously.

They both freeze.

“What was that?” Victor whispers from below Henry. He’s gone very, very pale, and Henry knows that fainting is a very real risk when it comes to Victor.

“I’m sure it’s just a rabbit,” Henry says, not very convincingly. The rustle had sounded much larger than a rabbit. “Or a bird, or something.”

“Or something,” Victor repeats dubiously. Henry gets to his feet, casting about for some sort of weapon, and Victor copies him, staring at the brush. His breathing is coming in staccato beats, and Henry half wants to laugh at him, despite the beating of his own heart, and half wants to gather him up into a hug.

“We should just go back to the ship,” Victor whispers, and Henry’s heart drops.

“No!” he says, a little loudly, and Victor flinches violently. Henry winces. “Sorry,” he says, laying a comforting hand on Victor’s shoulder. “Sorry. Look, there isn’t anything here - it had to have been the wind. Nothing to end the night early about.” And with that, he sits back on the sand, having convinced himself of their safety.

Victor, however, still looks nervous. “I’m not--”

“Wait,” a booming voice says, and a shadowy, enormous,  _ hulking _ figure emerges from the brush.

Henry is man enough to admit it: he shouts. Loudly. Victor just bolts, leaving Henry for dead. Henry is too in love to resent him for it.

“Wait, Victor-!” Henry shouts after him, because he’s suddenly recognized the figure’s long, black hair, but Adam cuts him off.

“It’s just me, Victor!”

Victor stops in his tracks, shoulders going rigid. He turns around slowly, and Henry doesn’t think he’s ever seen an expression of such wrath on his lover’s face before.

“Adam,” Victor says severely, marching straight up to him. Adam practically dwarfs Victor, but he seems properly cowed. “What the  _ hell _ are you doing, scaring us like that?” Victor is shouting, a little, and Henry hushes him. Victor ignores him. “You’d better have an explanation, and it had  _ better _ be a good one!”

“I heard you two sneaking out,” Adam starts, tone somewhere between placating and grudging. “And I--”

He’s cut off by an enormous rumble in the earth, one that nearly knocks them all over like bowling pins. Henry suddenly feels a vice-like grip on his arm - Victor has latched onto him, white as a ghost.

“Just--”  _ a small earthquake, nothing to worry about,  _ Henry had been about to say, but the ground opening up beneath him turned the statement into a cry of fear. 

The sand beneath them is moving rapidly to the right, sliding everywhere, and the brush is moving right along with it, approaching like a freight train. They’re all knocked off of their feet and they scramble to get up, only to be knocked down again when the sand shifts back to the left, and then to the right again.

They all slide around like coins in a game of shovel groat, and at one point Henry finds himself staring through the brush and looking at what appears to be - no, it  _ can’t  _ be - an - an  _ eye.  _

“What on  _ earth-? _ ” Henry shrieks, and then the entire island turns, and something akin to a groan vibrates through the ground and causes another bone-rattling quake.

The turn is forceful enough that they all go skittering down towards the brush with terrified screams. Victor hits the treeline first, being the lightest, and Henry has just enough time to see him go limp before he’s shooting through the foliage (just narrowly missing a tree himself) and stopping suddenly in something terribly, terribly gooey. 

He’s landed in the eye.

He lies there for a moment, stunned, before he scrambles onto his hands and knees, mucus-something sticking to his clothes and skin. He sees Adam, in a similar predicament not five feet from him, but no Victor. “Victor!” he shouts, heart beating so fast it’s nearly in his throat. No response.

He barely has any time to panic before the white below him suddenly turns blue, and he looks down to find a gigantic blue iris staring straight up at him. He goes numb with absolute terror, and all he can do is stare back in horror.

Suddenly something grabs him around the waist and his breath catches in his throat. He’s yanked backwards, back up onto the sand, and he’s suddenly filled with enough frightened energy to fight. 

He lashes out with his elbows and heels, yelling with the effort of it, and only fights harder when his arms are suddenly pinned to his sides.

“No!” 

“Calm  _ down _ !” a deep voice says next to his ear, and it takes a moment to register: Adam. 

Adam lets go of him as soon as he relaxes, and Henry immediately starts towards Victor, who is still crumpled on the ground, stumbling along with the movement of the earth - creature? - beneath them. He lets himself fall to his knees by Victor’s side, taking his pulse and stomach churning with worry. He barely registers Adam’s presence by his side.

He’s relieved to find a strong pulse, despite the paleness of Victor’s skin. “He’s fine,” he says. “Or, at least, alive.”

“Good,” Adam says bluntly, but Henry can hear relief under the urgency. “We need to get out of here - I’ve got Victor, you run ahead and let the others know what’s going on.”

His first instinct is to refuse. The idea of leaving Victor behind isn’t one he likes very much, but Henry can’t carry Victor very quickly, especially with the ease Adam can, and time is of the absolute essence. Besides, he tells himself. Victor and Adam have known each other even longer than Henry and Victor. It’ll be fine.

He gets to his feet and looks around for the ship, a little thrown off from his sense of direction. They must be on the eyelid of the - of the eye (just thinking of it makes Henry’s heart stutter in fear), but luckily, it’s stopped blinking.

“Wait,” Henry says, and Adam pauses in scooping up Victor. “The island. It’s stopped moving.”

The quiet is suddenly deafening. “We need to hurry,” Adam says, with such quiet urgency that Henry’s heart kicks into overdrive. He’s just about to sprint towards the ship, towards Elizabeth, who has a sword and actually knows how to use it, when the moon moves.

Or, what he’d  _ assumed _ was the moon, anyways.

It swings across the sky and right at him, hitting him in the stomach and knocking him to the ground with an impressive  _ oof.  _ It raises up, and Henry stares at it from the ground, absolutely terrified. “What - what--” he stutters, and then it bowls into Adam, knocking him at least five feet away from Victor.

It seems to be some sort of luminous bulb, unbearably bright, attached to a slender stem - Henry would have assumed it was a tree trunk, if it were not waving around in the air. He’s never been so disturbed in his life. 

It starts raises itself up, higher and higher, and Henry thinks it’s just going back to where it began until he realizes: it’s going to come back down, presumably hard, and presumably onto either him or Adam. Probably him, considering Adam’s already back up and by Victor.

Henry scrambles to stand up and  _ run,  _ but the thing comes down quicker than he’d expected, and he just barely manages to roll out of the way. It slams into the ground, and Henry quakes with the impact. “ _ Christ _ !” he screams, and it lifts back up. 

He tries to stand - again, it’s too fast, and he just barely manages to avoid being squashed again. It then slams  _ again,  _ missing Henry by a mere few inches, and Henry is beginning to think that this is it. This is his life; his Sisyphean task, if you will.

It slams down again, and Henry rolls out of the way. He’s just preparing himself for the next roll when a sword suddenly slices through the stem, severing the bulb from the trunk. The light goes out, and the stem whips back upwards, spraying blood as it goes. A scream echoes throughout the island, rattling so hard leaves shed from the brush, and the bulb rolls away to reveal Elizabeth, breathing hard and a glare on her normally sweet face.

“What are you three  _ doing  _ out here?!” she cries. “It’s nearly two in the morning! I’m in my  _ nightdress,  _ for god’s sake!” Henry takes a moment to admire her ensemble. She’s in her nightgown (it’s a little sheer, and Henry feels his mouth go dry), boots peeking out from beneath the hem and sword sheath strapped haphazardly around her waist. She’s still one step ahead of Henry, however, who is still barefooted.

“I didn’t know  _ this  _ was going to happen!” he says - if he’d known, he’d have forced Justine to turn the entire ship around far before they’d even thought about sleeping. “I--”

The island shifts with an angry groan, and suddenly there’s the sensation of being lifted upwards. Henry and Elizabeth stare at each other in a horrified silence. 

“Are we-?”

“We are.”

“Let’s  _ go! _ ” Adam bellows from behind them, and suddenly he’s shooting past, Victor’s limp form in his arms. Henry and Elizabeth are quick to follow.

They sprint towards the ship, faster than Henry’s ever run, and scramble up the ladder with surprising swiftness. Henry is relieved to see Justine already at the helm, and the other crew members have pulling down the sails upon their arrival. Henry immediately leaps over to join them, Elizabeth sprinting to Justine’s side, and Adam goes below deck with Victor, presumably to lay him down.

They don’t have to wait for the wind to push them forward - before their eyes, the island lifts out of the sea, shedding sand and water at it lifts and creating an absolutely enormous wave.

“Get ready!” Justine roars, and they have just enough time to see the head of what looks like a flat-nosed fish before the wave hits them.

They go flying.

Well, not literally. It  _ feels _ as if they go flying. At one point it even feels like they go sideways, supplies and tools rolling across the deck, but they don’t lose anything or anyone - instead, they settle eventually, all a little shell shocked but physically fine.

“Well,” Henry says, as primly as he can muster. He knows manners and austerity don’t matter any more, that he can let loose and let everyone know how he’s really feeling, but the habit is hard to shake. He sees the struggle in Victor and Adam as well, and as far as he knows, the three of them will just keep on feeding into each other’s gentry behaviour. “That was… fun.”

“It wasn’t,” Elizabeth says dryly, from her place by the helm. Both she and Justine are completely soaked from the initial dive. “But we’re fine, and we’ve been through worse, so I suppose the experience itself was enough scolding for you.”

“Oh, it was plenty enough scolding,” Henry says, grinning. “I’m not sure I’ll recover, actually.”

Elizabeth cackles, and Henry feels a swooping in his stomach at the sound. He and Victor have been dancing around the question of ‘how do we invite Elizabeth into our little relationship?’ for quite some time, and he’s only wanted it more the longer they wait. 

The thought of Victor brings him back down to earth, and the pleasant warmth in his belly fades into something like worry. “I’m going to go see Victor,” Henry says, and he doesn’t say anything when Elizabeth silently follows him below deck, secretly pleased. Victor is the one hesitant about asking, convinced that Elizabeth would be so offended she’d kick them off her ship, but she so clearly holds affection for him that Henry sometimes worries that she would only kick  _ him  _ off the ship and keep Victor for herself.

But, that’s a concern for another day.

They find Victor sitting up in a hammock, drinking a little bit of wine and regaining a little color as a consequence.

Henry is at his side in an instant. “Oh, thank god, you’re alright,” he says, running a hand through Victor’s hair and feeling his forehead for a fever. It’s blessedly cool. 

“I’m fine,” Victor says with a wry smile. He threads his fingers through Henry’s. “In fact, I’m having trouble deciding whether I actually hit the tree or just fainted from the shock of it all.”

Henry smiles at his joke, but the bruise blossoming from under Victor’s hairline tells him everything he needs to know. “That looks like it could’ve been nasty,” he says softly, brushing his fingers across the bruise. Victor winces, and he stops immediately, guilty. 

“It does hurt,” Victor says. “But my glasses are in a much worse shape.” He holds them up to reveal a cracked lense and one completely missing, the wire frame bent. 

“We’ll stop at a market,” Elizabeth says. “I’m sure there’s one nearby.”

Victor smiles at her, eyes soft, and Henry just wants to wrap them both up in his arms and never let go.

“Well,” Elizabeth says suddenly, voice very official, “obviously you’ll be staying in the captain’s cabin. You can’t possibly sleep in a hammock like this.”

“I, um,” Victor says, and he glances at Henry, who flushes. Elizabeth smiles a little. 

“Both of you,” she says. “The bed’s big enough.”

“But where will you sleep?” Henry asks, frowning. “We couldn’t possibly take your bed.”

“Oh, I’m not leaving it,” Elizabeth says, a wicked glint in her eye. “I suppose we’ll all have to learn to share.”

It takes him a moment, but Henry suddenly understands, and he feels like shouting for joy. Victor is grinning, and he takes Elizabeth’s hand, Henry taking the other. It feels right.

Unfortunately, he’d have to thank that island at some point. He isn’t so improper as to not give thanks where thanks is due.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you liked it!!! Follow me on tumblr @madprinceofdenmark if you want to scream about classic lit with me!!!


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